Hypnotic Regression and Healing the Unconscious Mind

How hypnosis can reveal experiences hidden in your unconscious mind.

Our mind is uniquely prepared to experience the continuity of time. While we are advised to live in the here and now, we all wander into the past or future. Our memory and imagination vary greatly from person to person. Even if you can remember every detail from your life, nobody can recall how these events affected them. The mind automatically filters out certain experiences out of normal memory. So, what kind of stuff becomes unavailable to our own thinking? Actually, there is a lot of information that never gets stored in our memory banks in the first place but, even more importantly, there are plenty of experiences that cannot be recalled because they are repressed - kept out of our awareness some how. These are the memories worth analyzing because they sit there deep inside the mind affecting our lives nonetheless. Hypnosis is one of the best ways to help people access those “buried” memories. Everyone has memories or experiences in their unconscious mind that they may not be able to recall but still play a significant role in everyday life. Hypnotic Regression is the process by which you enter a trance and recall material from deep inside that is normally not available to the conscious mind.

Hypnosis enables the mind to travel more easily across the dimension of time. Regression is the process by which the hypnotist guides you back through time to particular events that need to be examined. It is actually relatively simple; you are suggested to travel back through the years to recall specific memories. There are a number of effective techniques to facilitate this process. The hypnotic trance enhances your ability to remember events that you otherwise cannot recall. A good question is ‘why is it difficult to recall some memories and not others?’ Part of this answer can actually be attributed to Freud who described the function of the unconscious mind in great detail. Although many of Freud’s theories have been widely contested, the idea that the mind is made up of different levels of awareness and activity has been substantiated by empirical research and the observation of countless experts in psychology. The research into the formation and use of language demonstrates “unconscious” levels at which words, thoughts, and sentences are created. This deeper unconscious sphere of mental activity can be compared to an iceberg, the large bulk of which is out-of-sight beneath the ocean surface. Similarly, your mind has many activities that operate outside your awareness for good reasons. The brain evolved to economize our focus of attention to limit the amount of what is in our awareness. Consequently, there can be a large amount of mental stuff that you are not aware of but may still have an important function.

Regression can be used to help recall events from the other night or from any point of your lifetime. It can help you remember specific details of an event or even better, to observe it objectively and to understand its meaning and significance. It certainly can be a very powerful psychological tool to dive into the deeper parts of the mind.

The real problem is that we all experience a variety of events that were unpleasant, painful, embarrassing, or just difficult to cope with, which sometimes push these memories out of the conscious mind down into that hidden reservoir of the mind - the unconscious. These can be traumatic experiences, or just awkward ones that we do not want to remember or cannot recall because they were repressed out of awareness. Everybody has memories buried in the unconscious. Most of these memories are not that scary or horrible but some can be very uncomfortable to face. Many of the more dramatic things that happened to you as a child are resting in your unconscious, even if you can remember these events, some of their effects remain unobservable to the average person. That is where hypnosis comes in. Through a trance we can open the door to the unconscious mind and help find the conflicts, turmoil, hidden pain, expose the obstacles, the self sabotage, and reveal the invisible connections between events and feelings. Regression done by a skilled professional can be very healing and transformative. It often brings up new insights into how your mind works and what really happened to you as a child. Most of the memories revealed are not tragic or horrific but, they often help heal the wounds or conflicts we experience in daily life. Occasionally, traumatic events can come up that require very skilled resolution. That is precisely why, it is important that hypnotic regressions are performed by highly skilled doctors that know how to carefully dig for these memories without ever “planting” false memories into the person.

I have performed thousands of regressions on my clients and am often struck by the surprising nature of the material that is recalled. People can recall the most subtle small details of an event when they were just 5 years old that they never thought of before. This is how, much of the healing in the mind occurs, revealing the unconscious thoughts, memories, conflicts etc, to the awareness. The therapist must help the client resolve these issues often during the trance and then afterwards a significant amount of counseling may be required to help this person utilize these insights and new awareness in constructive and beneficial ways.

Healing the unconscious mind refers to the process of eliminating unwanted and unnecessary problems in the mind that block you from enjoying a healthy, happy and fulfilling life. Many things can rob us of positive progress in our lives. One area that should be considered, when other explanations have been exhausted is memories buried in the unconscious mind. Hypnosis and regression therapy, in skilled hands, can often help remove blockages and heal suffering. It can be a quick process or it may take considerable time and work; that depends on many factors. In short, this technique can often uncover the material hidden beneath the surface.

If you have experienced many psychological problems in your life, and all your efforts to resolve these issues in the direct conscious manner have not been successful, then trying hypnotic regression may offer you a potential solution. First, you must be prepared to dig deeper and be willing to confront whatever comes up. Secondly, you must do this with a qualified expert with whom you are prepared to invest the time and energy to go through this process. Thirdly, remain open and curious to utilize whatever emerges to resolve the problems and move forward in your life. I am certain that every person can make such positive progress.

I went for hypnotherapy once. I didn't feel hypnotized at all, thought the therapist assured me I was. Henceforth, I didn't trust her because she suggested that my intuition was contradicted by her experience. How do you ever prove to someone they actually are hypnotized?

Trance is a natural phenomena. It is something everyone experiences nearly every day, like getting absorbed in some situation and forgetting about all else. Trance has a very wide spectrum from just a few seconds to a comatose level where one can go thru surgery without anesthesia. So, yes, it is possible to go in and out of a trance-like state briefly without feeling that you were in an altered state of consciousness. There is also no limit to the depth one can travel to in hypnosis. Some people have a natural ability to go deeply others dont want to let go of their monitoring awareness. The idea actually is to "LET GO and RELAX" to willingly enter an altered state of awareness, to be in the "zone" to "drift" to feel "spaced out" or just to be ultra calm and relaxed beyond normal. The main point is that hypnosis is on a long continuum from wide awake to a deep sleep like state and countless levels imbetween. A good hypnotist helps his subject notice the changes and experience many more of the benefits. Everyone can enjoy the power of trance and utilize it for their own well being.
JR

Trance is a natural phenomena. It is something everyone experiences nearly every day, like getting absorbed in some situation and forgetting about all else. Trance has a very wide spectrum from just a few seconds to a comatose level where one can go thru surgery without anesthesia. So, yes, it is possible to go in and out of a trance-like state briefly without feeling that you were in an altered state of consciousness. There is also no limit to the depth one can travel to in hypnosis. Some people have a natural ability to go deeply others dont want to let go of their monitoring awareness. The idea actually is to "LET GO and RELAX" to willingly enter an altered state of awareness, to be in the "zone" to "drift" to feel "spaced out" or just to be ultra calm and relaxed beyond normal. The main point is that hypnosis is on a long continuum from wide awake to a deep sleep like state and countless levels imbetween. A good hypnotist helps his subject notice the changes and experience many more of the benefits. Everyone can enjoy the power of trance and utilize it for their own well being.
JR

Freud abandoned it because he couldn't be sure that it worked and that's why he came up with his free association technique which worked as well if not better, thats why the talking therapies are more sound. I'm sure that Hypnosis has it's uses but you would never get me to try it.

From what I learned, Freud was not very good at using hypnosis which takes patience and practice. He prefered to just let people talk while he listened (or perhaps just daydreamed or worked on his books) because that was easier and more lucrative for him to work his affluent clients that obviously loved to rest on a couch and talk to themselves for an hour a day 5 days a week.
This approach has not been considered an effective therapeutic technique my a majority of professionals.

Hypnosis, used by a skilled doctor can on the other hand help people access information that would otherwise be difficult to reach. Some of Freud's cases lasted 15 to 20 years. By the way Elaine you go in and out of trance everyday of your life. When you learn to use it more effectively in becomes much more powerful. JR

Tuning into others and guiding them through their journey does allow/open perspective. I don't believe I've ever hypnotized anyone yet I've guided ppl (myself as well) by asking certain questions. I appreciate this read and I will be looking into more insight on this process and how it may assist with my process of awareness....

HYPNOTISTS are divided into two groups. The licensed professionals and the certified hypnotherapists. The key is to find one who has the most experience and belongs to organizations that reflect the interest you have in hypnosis.
ASCH.net is the professional group and NGH.net is the lay hypnotist group. You can find someone searching for the person you trust and relate to that way.

Why do you fail to mention the horrific damage done to thousands of people in the 1980s and 90s especially but even now, by creating pseudo-memories with hypnosis? Innocent people spent decades in prison, healthy families were torn apart by these lies, patients were brought to horrible health conditions through this "healing". Could it be you too want to take advantage of uninformed people, making them pay for "mental health" that actually makes them sicker so they will be dependent on you and keep paying you, as other " health professionals" have done?